Lionel Messi’s contract renewal talks with Paris Saint-Germain have been put on hold while the club’s ownership holds talks over investing in a Premier League club.
The club’s Qatar Sports Investments (QSI) ownership – led by PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi – held talks with Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy in London this month over the possibility of making a minority investment in the North London club. The move comes as Levy faces growing discontent from Spurs fans.
QSI are open to investing in one of a number of Premier League clubs, but Manchester United and Liverpool are not under consideration despite both of the English giants seeking new investment with United pursuing a full sale of the club.
It emerged in November that Liverpool's American owners are keen to sell the club and FSG partner Sam Kennedy told The Boston Globe there has been a "lot of interest" in investing in the Reds and this is likely to be on a minority sale basis. However, it is understood that no discussions have been held between the parties – nor is there any intention of doing so.
United’s situation is different as the Glazer family have put United up for sale as they look to end their controversial 17-year ownership of the club. Mirror Football understands the Glazers are looking for as much as £8billion to sell arguably the biggest team in world football - a fee that eclipses the £2.5bn Todd Boehly paid for Chelsea.
Despite United’s public stance of also being open to minority investment which would allow the Glazers to still be involved with the club, it is believed that a full sale is being pursued with the club hopeful of concluding the process within the first quarter of 2023. That stance has ruled out QSI, who are not seeking further outright club ownership.
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However, Al-Khelaifi’s series of meetings with potential clubs into which QSI can invest has seen him push the renewal of Messi’s contract at PSG down the club’s priority list. This is outlined by Diario AS, who state that no official talks have yet been opened for the Argentine star, whose deal expires in June.
Alongside owning 100 per cent of PSG, QSI has a 21.67 per cent stake in Portuguese club Braga – widely recognised as the fourth biggest club in the nation – but they are hopeful of becoming minority investors in another European club in continental competition, alongside at least one South American club.
QSI is thought to be owned by the Qatar finance ministry and the Qatar Olympic Committee. Nasser Al-Khelaifi is the chairman of QSI and president of PSG.
He publicly confirmed two months ago that he was considering selling a minority share of PSG to new investors. QSI are not interested in a full sale of the club, but an unnamed American investment fund has been linked with buying 15 per cent.
